Weighted vests are a valuable aid for training leg strength and power, and they also are used to increase the intensity of weight-bearing exercise--by literally increasing the weight--for exercisers with low bone density. Adding extra weight is a sure recipe for injury if you have poor form--for example, an abnormal walking gait or an incorrect squat technique--and other problems might crop up when using a weighted vest.
Overload
Weighted vests increase the compression pressure on your spine and all load-bearing joints, including your hips, knees and ankles. This can cause problems, even in healthy people. Exercisers with back, knee, hip, ankle or foot problems should consult a doctor before adding a weighted vest to a training regimen. Users are advised to start with light weights and slowly increase them over a period of weeks. Using too much weight at first can pose more of a danger than an aid to fragile bones.
Discomfort
Some weighted vests are poorly made, placing the rigid metal weights directly against your body or letting them swing against your body as you walk. Try a vest on before you purchase it; the more comfortable models will have the weights placed strategically high, where they are less likely to hamper your soft internal organs, or on the outside of the vest, so the vest acts as a buffer. A well-made weighted vest also will adjust snugly to your body to help keep the weights from swinging.
Injury
If you're unlucky enough to fall or stumble into something when wearing a weighted vest, there is a risk of injury from forceful contact with the rigid metal cylinders used as weight in many vests. Some vests use semi-flexible weight plates, or weights fashioned from bags filled with metal shot, to help reduce this risk. Metal shot presents another problem, however, as toxic lead sometimes is used to make the weights.
Poor Construction
There are many good weighted vests on the market. Poorly constructed, bargain-basement-priced specimens, however, present their own problems. Poorly sewn seams are prone to ripping under the strain of weight plates, and if the fasteners over the weight pockets aren't completely secure, the weight plates can slide out of the vest if you happen to lean forward or turn the vest over.
Style
Many weighted vests are about as attractive as an inflated personal flotation device or a bulletproof vest. Although your health is certainly more important than your looks, some exercisers might see a vest's unwieldy appearance as a problem.
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